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Tom Cruise is now over 50 years old and is only 5 feet 7 inches tall and barely weighs 150 pounds. Yet, he has been a fighter pilot, assassin spy, brute detective enforcer, sports agent, rock star, clone, samurai, vampire, race car driver, immigrant boxer, pool hustler, male gigolo, bar tender, alien destroyer and just all around sex symbol that is portrayed as being able to pound any opponent into submission with his car, sword, knife, guns or fists. You, along with millions of others, have likely willing contributed to the $3.5 billion of his lifetime box office totals, and, chances are you will do so again in the not so distant future. You go to the theater and turn your disbelief off when he lives for centuries, learns perfect Japanese in a couple months, gets killed by an alien and wakes up fresh as new and scales a sky scraper with magical sticky gloves. But you can’t turn off your disbelief that you can’t be whatever you want to be? Hmmmmmmmmm…

To be epic, you are going to have to start believing in yourself sooner or later. I suggest sooner. Becoming epic is going to be a process, but no single rule is more important that this one. However, it can also be the most difficult.

I will end this very important rule with an incredible quote from the great boxer movie philosopher, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). In the final movie of the Rocky films, Balboa gives a truly wonderful speech to his adult son who was whining about his challenges at work and with life:

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!”